I have an idea of the kind of person I would like to be. She is fun, smart, pretty, compassionate, kind, relaxed, and writes with a voice that makes angels weep.
She always eats healthfully, gets plenty of sleep, lets things like jerks cutting her off in traffic just roll of her like water on a ducks back.
The bar is high.
And for the record, I fail pretty much every single day at my ideals. And yes, I know the standards are high.
I used to feel bad when I failed to meet my super amazing person standard. Now, I understand why I set these ideals in the first place.
I wanted people to accept me and approve of me. I still do.
Howeves, my perspective has shifted.
I still want to be all those things that I value, and instead of feeling disappointed when I fall short, cuz lets face it, who can be that amazing all the time, I celebrate when I choose any of those ideals in the moment. Especially when that moment is one in which it would be so easy to react instead.
Take the traffic for example. In Los Angeles a day doesn’t go by in which some crazy person doesn’t cut you off in traffic. Most of the time I don’t take it personally, I just crank up the Gaga and go about my biz.
But then there are those days when the affront is so ill timed that I am certain that that dick in the tricked out Civic is cutting me off to communicate his version of “Eff u.”
It is in these very moments that if I can say, “Whoa missy, take it down a notch.”
I ask myself, even when I am activated, “Can I be fun, smart, pretty, compassionate, kind, and relaxed…right now…in this moment?”
Most of the time the answer is yes.
So I call that a win.
And what do you know, I just may be the person I have always wanted to be after all.
